人类的进步

当我思考重要的话题时, I often find myself weaving two concepts into my thoughts:  context and perspective. I was thinking about those words and about the events of this past week — a slaughter in Pittsburgh and a cohort of Solebury Teach2Serve students who organized and then held a 5 k跑步/步行 为了强调我国枪支安全的必要性.

如何理解这一切? 和...我真的相信人类在进步吗?

Let’s begin with my notion that the progress of humanity is an arc sweeping ever upward. 我相信这一点，加上一个很大的星号. 星号是这个...如果你把人类的进步想象成图表上的一条线, with the Y axis some complex definition of exactly how we might measure progress, and the X axis as the unfolding of human history from our very beginning until the present, 我确实相信，作为一个物种，我们的进步是向上的, 但并非没有一些波动.

过去的这个周末对我来说是一个重大的波动. Eleven humans lost their lives in Pittsburgh, a mass killing being investigated as a hate crime. 这种仇恨背后的驱动力是受害者信奉的宗教. 在一个神圣的地方, violence intruded — an extreme violence that makes one wince in pain just from thinking about it. 然而，这些事件并不新鲜，也不不同. 事实上, 这是2018年的第297起大规模枪击事件, 这个数字几乎等于2018年的天数 商业内幕. 作为校长, I think about safety every day and I shudder every time my phone lights up with an alert of a new act of gun violence against a group of humans — be it in a school, 礼拜场所或购物中心. I feel frustrated… and the line on my theoretical graph declines in these moments.

然而,.

第二天，在匹兹堡以东约330英里处, a handful of Solebury students gathered for the culmination of a project they have been working on for months: a 5 k跑步/步行 that shone a bright light on their belief in the need for gun safety. 这个长达数月的努力的背景是:我们的学生想要回应, 从他们的小角落里, 帕克兰校园枪击案, 今年早些时候在佛罗里达州. 他们邀请了枪支拥有者, gun safety advocates and public officials to come together and raise awareness on the topic of gun safety and promote a healthy dialogue around preventing gun violence. Some 100 people eng年龄d in healthy activity and healthy dialogue on an issue that felt especially important that day, and our students raised important funding that will be donated to organizations committed to gun safety efforts. 从全局来看，它很小. 但功能强大. Y轴上的线呈上升趋势.

How do we make sense of these two events within the context of human progress?

对我来说，答案既复杂又微妙. 它始于承认人类是有缺陷的. We are imperfect creatures and those imperfections will never cease being a part of our species. 只要我们存在，仇恨和偏见就会继续存在. 但我们可以看到，在人类漫长的历史中, 受过教育的人越来越多, 宽容, 接受度提高了. The never-ending goal: to continue the work of ushering more and more humans inside this tent of tolerance. 这一努力的关键工具是:教育.

I firmly believe any and all human progress we can point to is the result of education, 最特别的是, 广义的教育. It is not the content of Calculus or US 历史 that is the particular engine of human progress (apologies to my mathematic and social science colleagues), but rather the delivery of this content in a community that is also focused on character development, 社区建设, 严格遵守伦理或道德准则, 灌输和培养宽容和包容的价值观. This is the educational environment we must all work to create and sustain. 我相信我们可以逐渐实现一个没有仇恨的世界, 偏执, 不容忍可以被削弱和边缘化. 会有更多类似匹兹堡事件的情节发生吗. 不幸的是,是的. Will there be many more events like our 5K to shine a bright light on the issues that trouble us? 绝对. 为了减少前者，我们需要最大化后者.

因此，当我们展望未来时，我保持谨慎乐观. 在这一刻, 我想起了两句名言, each offering a north star to follow as we as think about our role in this world where good and evil continue to battle. These words are attributed to eighteenth century political theorist and philosopher Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.”

但, perhaps the most appropriate words in this moment come from the Talmud: "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. 现在行公义，现在爱怜悯，现在谦卑行事. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it."

我们不但不能放弃这项工作，而且必须继续下去. 更努力的工作. 恨少. 多带着爱倾听. Minimize the undulations and continue the upward trajectory of the progress of humanity. 我承诺. 我希望你也一样.